Opinion Finding shared ground

The UK,however,made an early decision to attend the conference. Writing in the Tamil Guardian recently,David Cameron said that he would take advantage of the meeting to engage with the government and “shine the international spotlight on the lack of progress in the country”. He also plans to visit Tamil-majority areas and argued that diplomacy is “about talking to those that you may not agree with precisely because you want to change their approach”. Both the Indian and UK arguments have their merits,but true partners would perhaps have coordinated their approach beforehand. And this reflects a broader problem hindering the UK-India relationship.

The main problem in deepening ties is that there are significant domestic constituencies in both countries which prevent engagement on issues that are paramount to the other. While the UK has shifted its trade focus to issues such as education and infrastructure,which are of vital importance to India,British exports lag behind countries such as Germany,in part because India has little interest in opening its markets to British service sector strengths such as finance.

Even more important is the fact that India’s number one priority is the liberalisation of visas. The question of immigration is toxic in the UK. The leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP),Nigel Farage,has criticised Cameron for not being a true Conservative on the grounds that,among other things,“he’s talking about unlimited immigration from India”. Ideas such as the 3,000-pound “visa bond” for some migrants from “high-risk” countries,including India,serve in part to counter such narratives and to prevent the Conservative Party from being out-flanked on the issue by the UKIP. While the visa bond idea has now been jettisoned,the episode did little to enhance UK-India relations.

The UK faces a further problem in that its concerns regarding immigration from India are not shared by other European countries,which lack the UK’s large Indian diaspora. Representatives of a number of European countries have pointedly remarked that they have different visa norms from the UK. Further,there seems to be a growing recognition in India that the use of English is widespread in business circles in countries such as the Netherlands and Germany. Even in areas like education,the UK faces emerging challenges from other European countries.

Recent years have witnessed a number of positive developments for UK-India relations in a range of areas,such as education,science and technology,as well as a broader upsurge in the volume of government-to-government visits. The UK must overcome a number of challenges that are specific to it,at a time when other countries are attempting to deepen their engagement with India. Some lateral thinking on visas would be a start; the UK’s recent move to allow Chinese nationals to travel to the UK using Schengen visas (provided they go through approved travel agencies) demonstrates that such thinking does exist.

For now,perhaps the key part of the relationship is the number of large investments that British firms,such as BP,have made in India and vice versa,with Tata,for instance,buying Jaguar Land Rover and Corus. Government to government relations remain slightly marred by a lack of clarity about what the relationship is for. More frequent talks on an expanded range of issues between India and the UK are a solid start. But India appears to prefer more outcome-oriented relationships and,given the number of countries wooing it,has the ability to pick and choose.

India also has its preferred relationships on certain issues. For promoting emerging economies,it would be the BRICS combination of Brazil,Russia,China and South Africa; on thinking through global governance issues,it would be the IBSA,with Brazil and South Africa. Finding shared interests and talking them through with India,ideally coming to common positions,is the challenge for the UK. The CHOGM in Sri Lanka may well have been a missed opportunity.

Gareth Price

express@expressindia.com